Public Diplomacy

This kind of diplomacy did exist for some time and still it is the policy of any the state whether in its own territory or outside tries to reach directly to the public in order to influence their attitude towards them through different means and tactics hence traditionally it used to be called propaganda by those who are the target or against such activities.Almost all states use media to spread information and have department of information which is responsible for that purpose, it was heavily used in the 20century especially during Second World War and the heydays of the cold war.

However the usage of the term Public diplomacy originated from United States of America during mid sixties and one of the most and highly regarded public diplomacy was initiated when president Kennedy of United States launch and asked the Congress to enact ‘Peace Corps Act’ which was meant that the government of United States and its citizens would ‘promote world peace and friendship’ and its agenda and target was to help developing countries with trained volunteers and to understand those countries as well as to enhance the American image which many emerging states who gained their independence throughout the world see America another imperialist state who are not different from the colonisers of the past.Famously preisdent Kennedy said “…we have in this country, an immense reservoir of such men and women-anxious to sacrifice their energies and time and toil to the cause of world peace and human progress.

Large numbers of volunteers were dispatched to the most of the third world countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America and infact it was master piece public diplomacy during the cold war in order to export liberal and democratic ideas of America and its western allies against socialist and communist advesaries all over the globe. Peace Corps was a popular program among the students mostly in sixties but later on due to American involvement in Vietnam war and the cridibilty of the government in the country, the interest of the volunteers declined but the idea was again revived by the government and was increased its role and more funds were alloted to the oganization and it is still exist and operate.